Lieberman: UNHRC Report Belongs in Garbage

Yisrael Beytenu chairman launches a scathing attack on the UNHRC over call on Israel to withdraw from Judea and Samaria.

Elad Benari, 01/02/13 02:13

Avigdor Lieberman

Hezki Ezra

Yisrael Beytenu chairman, former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, on Thursday evening launched a scathing attack on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) which said earlier that Israel must withdraw all of its citizens from the regions of Judea and Samaria.

"The UN Human Rights Council once again proved today that there is no connection between its name and its nature,” said Lieberman, noting that the UNHRC does not show any interest in the ongoing mass murders in Syria.

“The only thing this Council is engaged with is ways to try to harm Israel,” Lieberman wrote on his official Facebook page.

Lieberman noted that during his tenure as foreign minister he had ordered that Israel cut all ties with the UNHRC, adding that the United States, Canada and the European Union had previously said that the UNHRC’s constant pursuit of Israel is disproportionate.

“There is no need to reply to the Council’s distorted report on Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria,” he said.

“We will continue to build and live in our country and they will continue to try and hurt the Zionist activities through baseless and pointless reports whose place is in the garbage heap of history.”

In a report it issued earlier on Thursday, the UNHRC wrote that "Israel must, in compliance with Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, cease all settlement activities without preconditions.”

“It must immediately initiate a process of withdrawal of all settlers from the occupied Palestinian territories,” said the report.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry responded in a fiery statement immediately to the report, which claimed that Jewish settlement activity only “hampers peace efforts.”

The UNHRC has a history of passing numerous biased resolutions condemning Israel for various alleged ‘crimes’ each year. Israel, in fact, has a permanent spot on the agenda of the Council's meetings, which ignored massacres in Sudan and other parts of the world and has had representatives of despotic governments as members.

Earlier this week, Israel became the first country to boycott a UNHRC review of its rights situation, sparking heated debate among diplomats on how to respond.